US2054471A - Spring fastener - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 15, 1936. G. A. TINNERMAN 2,054,471

SPR ING FAS TENER Filed April 29, 1935 Fig. 7

INVENTOR. George 14. ,77/7/7erma/7 ATTORNEY-5 Patented Sept. 15, i936 STA aosm'u some FASTENEB George A. 'llinncrman, Rocky River, Ohio, are .ggnor to Albert E. Timer-man, Sleyeland,

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Application April 29, 1935, Serial n rarer 1 Claim.

This invention relates to spring fasteners and particularly to those which are used in place of a nut for engaging a bolt and cooperating therewith to' lock two or more articles together. Spring fasteners of this general type have comprised a body portion with a pair or? tongues that project upwardly therefrom and that are suiiiciently yieidable for enabling the bolt to be in sorted thereinto, merely by a longitudinal motion, and thereafter, locked by imparting a few turns to the bolt. A fastener of such construction is illustrated in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,512,653, which were issued Oct. 2i, rear.

The fastener, which is shown in Patent #l,5l2,-

S53, is adapted to be positioned against one oi the of the article, with the ends or the tongues in registration with the opening through which the bolt is intended .to be passed. With such construction, it has been necessary for an operator to hold the fastener in place with one hand, while the bolt is being turned with the other hand. This construction is satisfactory where there is ample room for an operator to use both hands, but its usefulness is limited to those operations in which there is sufidcient room for the operator to work. In the present day automotive construction, however, there are many parts, in which spring fasteners would be recommended, except for the fact that access cannot readily be had for holding the fastener in place during the bolt applying operation. The trade in such instances therefore, has resorted either to a nut which is rigidly fastened to the underside or one of the articles, or to a drilled and tapped opening of one of the metallic parts.

In manyparts of automobile body construction, metallic plates are being replaced by sheets of compressed fibrous material, so as to reduce the cost or" construction. This is particularly true in the construction 'of arm rests, door panels and other interior upholstered parts. In such instances, it is impractical to use the fastening means, which heretofore has been regarded as necessary, because of the fact that the fibrous sheet is not adapted to be threaded because it is suficiently compressible to preclude the making of a tight joint by meansof the customary nut.

An object of my invention is to so construct a spring fastener that it may be readily applied to a, sheet of fibrous material and fastened thereto in registration with a bolt opening therein, so as to obviate the necessity for holding it in place by a workman, during the bolt attaching operation.

(Cl. 8M6) A further object is to make a spring fastener, which can lie-readily fastened into-plaoein the sheet without the use of the tools or other iasten= ing parts, and which will remain firmly in the desired position before the sheet is applied to the automobile body, or other article to which it may be attached, thus facilitating the work of assern bly, and materially reducing the labor item in assembly operation.

In addition,'the invention contemplates iastoner construction by means of which the fastener may be entirely concealed iroin view, and located in position where the workman does not have access to it, and yet so firmly retained in place n a bolt may be quickly inserted and locked into position thereagsinst,

In the thawing l. is a top plan View oi a fastener which is in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section through an artitie with which my fastener is adapted to be used,

the fastener being shown in its initial position for attachment to the article; Fig. 4 illustrates another position of the fastener, which is shown in Fig. 3, showing the attaching operation; Fig. 5 is a bottom "View oi one end of the fastener, such as is shown in Figs. 1 to 6 is a bottom view of one end or": the fastener and illustrates an attaching part that is a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a fr entary side elevation of the fastener that is shown in Fig. 6.

In Figs. 1 and 2, it indicates a layer of fibrous material in compressed sheet form that is to be attached to a part M which may be of metal or any other desired material. The part It has a bolt opening it therein, which registers with a similar opening it in the part i I. These openings are designed to receive the shank of a. bolt it. In the form illustrated, the bolt is threaded and the head of it is in contact with the outer face or the part ll.

The nut or spring fastener which I have shown in connection with. the bolt H has a body portion that isnormaily arched upwardly and that comprises longitudinal portions 35 that are connected and type of bolt with which the fastener is intended to be used.

To hold the fastener against the sheet III, I provide openings 2| in the sheet, and I position the openings adjacent the ends of the fastener. The distance, however, between the adjacent edges of the openings 2| is determined by the length of the fastener. These openings, as shown in Fig. 1, are preferably stamped in the sheet in such manner that the axes thereof and the axes of the'opening I! lie substantially in a common plane. The fastener has fingers 25, which project from the ends of the body portion and are adapted to extend through the openings 2| and behind the'sheet III. are bent downwardly and thence inwardly, both underhanging the body portion, but spaced therefrom. The normal position of the fingers, when the fastener is detached from a sheet is substan-' tially parallel to the body portion. Furthermore, the tongues 20 are spaced so that the fastener must be sprung downwardly before the tongues can be inserted into place.

Inasmuch as the attaching of the fastener to the sheet is accomplished by springing the fastener, it is obvious that it may be applied without requiring tools and that it will be retained 'in' place, merely by the resiliency in the body of the fastener.

To illustrate the attaching operation, Fig. 3 shows a fastener, with one finger extending through the opening 2| and with the other resting upon the top of the sheet [0. Fig. 4 shows the effect of pressure that may be exerted manually upon the fastener and illustrates the upper tongue about to be forced into its associated opening 2|. At the completion of the pressure operation, the upper finger slips downwardly through the sheet and engages the bottom face thereof, as is illustrated in Fig. 2. At such time the resiliency in the body portion draws the two ends forcibly toward each other, thereby effectively retaining the fastener in bolt receiving position against the sheet.

To this end, the fingers The fingers 25 illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 are well adapted for retaining the fastener in the desired position against any material in sheet form. However, to retain the fastener more effectively against fibrous material in sheet form, I prefer to form the fingers as points, as illustrated at in Fig. 6, and to curve them both inwardly and toward the body portion, as is shown in Fig. 7. In this way, the fingers enter the material and pierce, or tend to pierce, the same making a very secure joint therewith.

While I have shown in Fig. 2 my invention in connection with a screw having a cylindrical threaded shank, and a pointed end, it is important to note that the invention is well adapted for use with a wood screw having the usual tapered and threaded shank. In many installations, wood screws are more desirable, particularly because they can be made more economically than the machine screws.

The fastener made in accordance with my invention has accomplished a two-fold purpose in that ithas obtained an eflicient and simplearrangement' for effectively looking a fastener in place and has provided an eifectiveway for incorporating a fastener with a sheet of fibrous material. The invention has solved a diflicult problem in automotive and kindred construction, and has greatly facilitated the use of fibrous .material, as a backing sheet for upholstered parts.

Iclaim:

A spring fastener comprising a body portion of ribbon-like material having a bolt receiving opening extending therethrough, means extruded from the body portion and movable with relation thereto for yieldably engaging the shank of a bolt, the body having its ends bent inwardly on the bottom thereof to provide work engaging hooks, and the body being arched between the hooks to imp'artresiliency by means of which the fastener may be supported in'bolt receiving position against the work solely by spring tension.

' GEORGE A. TINNERMAN.

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